You can find websites for the following countries (click on the language link next to the country in which you are interested — some countries have sites in more than one language):

Albania  Albanian

American Samoa English

Argentina Spanish

Australia English

Austria German

Belgium (Dutch)

Belize English

Brazil Portuguese

Bulgaria Bulgarian

Chile Spanish

Colombia Spanish

Costa Rica Spanish

Croatia Croatian

Czech Republic Czech

Denmark Danish

Dominican Republic Spanish

Ecuador Spanish

England English

Estonia Estonian

Fiji English

Finland Finnish

France French

Germany German

Greece Greek

Guatemala Spanish

Honduras Spanish

Hong Kong Chinese or Mandarin or Cantonese

Hungary Hungarian

Iceland Icelandic

Italy Italian

Japan Japanese

Latvia Latvian

Mexico Spanish

Netherlands Dutch

New Zealand English

Nicaragua Spanish

Niue English

Northern Ireland English

Norway Norwegian

Paraguay Spanish

Peru Spanish

Philippines English

Poland Polish

Portugal Portuguese

Republic of Ireland English

Romania Romanian

Russia Russian

Samoa English

Scotland English

Singapore English

Slovak Republic Slovak

Slovenia Slovenian

South Africa English

South Korea Korean

Spain Spanish

Sweden Swedish

Switzerland German or French

Taiwan Chinese

Thailand Thai

Tonga English

Ukraine Ukrainian

Uruguay Spanish

Vanuatu English

Venezuela Spanish

Wales English

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For more links that provide information about and from the Church in multiple languages see here and here.

The post Links We Like: International Church Sites appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

My name is Sylvia. I joined the Church when I was 27 years old, between my return from serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa and graduate studies in Washington, D.C. I feel privileged to work in international development, as I have an opportunity to serve every single day. I also feel lucky to have had the chance to visit wards and branches in different countries, particularly in West Africa.

I’ve had sacrament meeting in classrooms and hotel rooms. I’ve lived where there was no organized church meetings at all, satisfying my desire for worshiping with other Church members by doing Sunday School study via email with a friend. I have hosted meetings in my home for Peace Corps volunteers and BYU students. I’ve been mistaken for a missionary in Albania, gone out on “splits” [serving with the missionaries for an evening] in Montreal and Lyon, and met with the eight LDS Church members in Istanbul. I feel exceptionally lucky as well that I’ve been a member of more typical LDS wards in California and Arkansas.

One place where I haven’t been to church, and where I’d really like to, is my home country of the Philippines. I hope one day to have the chance to visit the mini-temple in Cebu City, where I was born.

Regardless of the physical location, though, I’ve felt at home wherever I’ve been at church.

I’m married to a Muslim. I can’t ask for a more supportive partner – from cutting out spirit children from plastic sheet protectors for my Sunbeam [3-year-old Primary class] lessons to prodding me every Sunday morning to go to my meetings, because, as he says, “you’ll feel better.” My husband is the one who inspires me to be the best example I can be, every day. One Mohamed story: when I told him I was tired and felt like flaking on attending ward temple night, he told me that Satan was working on me. I have NO idea where he got that from.

I don’t know if my husband and I will ever resolve the “who’s more righteous” debate – fasting for a month straight or fasting once a month the whole year – but I’m happy to be able to articulate my side of the argument.

I have been thinking recently about what it means to draw close to the Savior. This topic really resonates with me because of a recent personal challenge. I’ve always had a hard time asking for help. I want to be a strong and independent person. I want to be the reliable one. But sometimes that’s not enough. I’ve had to learn to share my burdens, to allow others to render service unto me, and, most importantly, to understand – or, at least, begin to understand – how to draw closer to the Savior.

In Doctrine and Covenants 88: 63, we read: “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

We as Mormons talk often about how to figuratively “knock.” We are taught several basic principles:
* Pray
* Study the scriptures
* Keep the commandments
* Endure cheerfully

I will be the first to admit that doing any, if not all, of these things on any given day can be really hard. And we don’t have kids or pets, so I don’t know how parents manage. But the point is to try. And in trying there is grace and there is possibility. In doing so, I can draw closer to Christ.

I also remember that we are taught consistently to focus on progress, not perfection, although perfection remains the ultimate goal. It’s with drawing closer to the Savior that we can inch, imperfectly, toward perfection. The Encyclopedia or Mormonism says,

Although to many the goal of perfection seems overwhelming, Christ promised, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:30). While obedience to the commandments is essential, the spirit of perfection is contrary to ever-lengthening checklists of outward acts visible to others. Rather, prophets invite all to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; …and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you” (Moro. 10:32). Therein lies the power to overcome sin and discouragement.

So this most recent trial of mine reminds me that I still have lessons to learn on the road to perfection. I still need to understand that I can’t do it all by myself. I still need to learn how to graciously ask for, and accept, help. Most of all, I still need to know that ultimately, what is most important, is developing and strengthening my relationship with the Savior. It’s easy to dismiss “prayer/study/keep/endure” as a formula, but it’s a formula that works. It’s the Lord’s way; it’s up to me to follow it or not. We all have challenges, whether or not they are visible. Those challenges should not be seen merely as difficulties to overcome, but also opportunities for us to draw upon the Lord.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No.” Romans 8:35,37

I’m inspired by a quote from an essay entitled “The Uses of Adversity,” by Carlfred Broderick, which was a talk originally given at a BYU women’s conference:

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not insurance against pain. It is resource in event of pain, and when that pain comes (and it will come because we came here on earth to have pain among other things), when it comes, rejoice that you have resource to deal with your pain.

The post Portraits of Mormon Women: Sylvia appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

I recently had the honor to speak with Debbie over the phone for over an hour and we were able to make a real connection. We had never met or spoken before this time, and it was amazing to me that two women on opposite sides of the earth speaking about marriage, children, and faith can bridge the gaps in time and space so easily over the phone. I was impressed by Debbie for so many reasons, and I’m anxious for all of our readers to get to know a little about her.

Debbie started attending the Mormon church when she was four or five and her mother and sister were baptized when she was six. Her family was later sealed in the temple when she was seven years old.

Debbie is from Reno, Nevada. Her would-be husband, Mark, would come to Reno every summer to work for his uncle’s water ski business. After serving an LDS mission, he was eager to come back to Reno to work for his uncle — mostly because he loves to water ski. It was during this time he met Debbie.

Now, many years later, they are the parents of eight children:  a 22 year-old-son who just returned from serving a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Houston, Texas (USA), a 21-year-old daughter who is currently serving a full time mission in California (also in the USA), a 17-year-old who has an international driver’s license, a 13-year-old, a 12-year-old, a 9-year-old, and two babies at the end, ages two and one.

Debbie and her family currently live in Doha, Qatar! Her husband has worked for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since before they were married, and “loves the international thing.” When he first got his job with the FBI, Mark immediately applied for an international assignment, but he didn’t get an assignment internationally right away. In fact, it was after 18 1/2 years of working for the FBI when he finally was selected for an assignment in Chile.

Debbie says, “I was so scared to go to Chile. We talked it over as a family and prayed a lot. As soon as we made the decision to accept this assignment we had the great excitement to go. When we got there, I was scared at first. It took me about a year before I felt like I could make it. I had this view of learning the language that it would just be easy. I had seen many missionaries learn the language so fast. I just thought if you live there and are immersed in the language it would be so easy to pick it up. I have learned the hard way that it takes a lot of time and effort to learn a foreign language.”

But after living in Chile for four years Debbie came away with a love for the people. “Going to Chile was a magnificent thing. A fantastic experience! The best part was getting to know how wonderful the Chilean people are. My husband was called as the Bishop of our ward and so we worked closely with the missionaries assigned to our ward. We had the wonderful experience of teaching the Gospel in our home.”

While in Chile, Mark and Debbie had six children but wanted to have more. Near the end of their time in Chile, Mark applied and was accepted to work in Senegal, Africa. In their preparation to go to Africa from Chile, Debbie found out she was pregnant with her seventh child. The nurse who was administering Debbie’s shots in preparation for life in Africa felt uncomfortable giving a pregnant woman the yellow fever shot. After much heartache, they decided that it would be best for their family if they just went back to the United States so Debbie could have her baby there.

While back in the United States, they also had their eighth child. But, they knew they still wanted to work internationally after having such a good experience in Chile. At first they applied for a position in Estonia, but the position was canceled and then an immediate opening was available in Doha, Qatar. Mark applied, and got the job. They have been there for about two months.

Debbie asked her husband for a priesthood blessing prior to moving to Qatar. In it she was told to “Open your heart and love the people and you will be happy.” And that is just what she is trying to do. She loves all the diverse cultures of the people she is meeting. People from all over the world congregate there for business. Almost unbelievably, Debbie’s next-door neighbors are a Latter-day Saint family there with the military. They have two teenage sons and two children under eight, which is great for Debbie’s children — they have friends to hang out with.

Church is held in a large local villa, about 25 minutes from where she lives. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has rented the villa for  church services as well as midweek activities. Currently two wards [congregations] meet there. Debbie attends the international ward, but there is also a Filipino ward that meets in her same building. Her daughter’s youth leaders include women from the United States, South Africa and Nigeria, all currently living in Qatar with their families.

I asked Debbie if she had an experience she could share with our readers of a time when she knew God had answered her prayers. She thought for a while, and decided on this one. “When I was 23 years old, I had already been married for a while and had two children. I had been baptized and been a member of the Church since I was eight. I had attended seminary and read the Book of Mormon as asked. I kept hearing people say in church, ‘If you ask you will receive an answer.’ I just wanted to know for myself that the Book of Mormon was true.

“At that time my husband was working nights and so I decided that after I put the babies to bed I would read the Book of Mormon. The first night I knelt down and prayed, ‘I have heard my entire life that if I ask that I will know if the Book of Mormon is true. Please send the Holy Ghost to be with me and testify to my heart the truth of the words that I read.’

“I started reading nightly after I put my children to bed. At first it was drudgery but I thought, I am going to keep going because I need an answer. I felt I could not go on any longer without knowing the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon for myself. I continued to read. And the more I read, the more I couldn’t wait to read. It got to the point where I couldn’t wait to read after the children were asleep. After nights and nights of reading like this I got to Alma 32:28 which says:

Now we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good see, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves- It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea it beginneth to be delicious to me.

“When I read that scripture I felt my mind being filled with light. I felt that my understanding was being enlarged. I felt like my heart was filling up to overflowing with understanding. And every word began to be most delicious thing I had ever tasted. That was my absolute witness. Wave after wave of amazing joy lasted with me for a very long time. I knew that Heavenly Father really heard me and was giving me a testimony that the Book of Mormon was true and every word was His.”

At the end of our conversation, Debbie thanked me for interviewing her. She said, “About a year and a half ago I wanted to start a blog so I could put my testimony on the Internet so it could help other people. And now, here you are interviewing me and putting my testimony onto the Internet. Thank you for helping me do something that I have wanted so much.”

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For more Portraits of Mormon Women, please click here.

The post Portraits of Mormon Women: Debbie appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.